Thanks. I guess this requires an email to Criterion to correct their web site. I would buy the single disc if it had the short. Now I'll have to wait till I feel like spending a lot of money on the rest of the films.

Thanks. I guess this requires an email to Criterion to correct their web site. I would buy the single disc if it had the short. Now I'll have to wait till I feel like spending a lot of money on the rest of the films.

The other films are well worth getting, too -- especially Stolen Kisses.

I agree that Love on the Run does play more like a clip show than a movie. But still, I think the box-set is worth it for The 400 Blows, Antoine and Collette and Stolen Kisses alone. Not to mention Les Mistons and all those goodies.

Although, I can't help but wonder: If Truffaut were still alive, do you guys think he would've made another Antoine Doinel picture showing him what he's like in middle-age and such? Just wondering.

Watched this today. It was pretty good, but not a particularly astonishing or amazing film. Interesting but not worth more than one viewing. I do like the new-wave cinematography but it was a little bit too unfocused for me to really love it.

Hello, you've reached the Truffault cult. Unfortunately no-one can take your message right now, but please leave your disdain for The 400 Blows after the tone and we'll send you a wave of boiling fury as soon as we are able. BEEP.

Based on my limited experience here in this forum, I don't think you are at any great risk of attack just for politely stating your opinion. I would, however, urge you not to dismiss this film so quickly and suggest revisiting it a year or more from now, perhaps when you have seen more films indicating how far-reaching its influence really has been or when you are more in touch with Truffaut's artistic voice (I hope that doesn't sound too presumptuous). Also, watching the other Doinel films (which are slightly hit-and-miss but well worth your time) will help endear The 400 Blows to your heartâ€¦ unless you just don't have a heart you cold, insensitive bastard.

I understand the wave of influence and all that stuff, but a wave does not a great film make. I liked the cinematography and the plot, but it wasn't an incredible film. Worthy of being a Criterion, but not fucking amazing or anything like that. Overall, it has the vague smell of a first film.

I understand your point - it doesn't scream "Great Film" while you watch it, but for me that's one of its primary charms - the ease with which it assumes a place in your heart and mind (well, mine at least) and won't go away. This is one of the best films about adolescence because it doesn't wallow in self-pity or resort to stridencies and absolutes; instead, it seems like the best friend you might've never had but always wanted.

I infinitely prefer it to Jules & Jim, which to me is all about striking poses. 400 Blows has just about the biggest heart in all of cinema.

I understand the wave of influence and all that stuff, but a wave does not a great film make. I liked the cinematography and the plot, but it wasn't an incredible film. Worthy of being a Criterion, but not fucking amazing or anything like that. Overall, it has the vague smell of a first film.

Ok ok, you don't like the film that much. In your opinion it is neither a great nor an amazing film. In my opinion it is absolutely fucking amazing. The pacing is perfect, the characters are gripping, not to mention the cinematography, the soundtrack and the final shot that brilliantly burns into my mind and would have made me wonder for the next three years whatever became of our lovable little tramp-to-be had I seen it in the cinema upon release and not in a box that I marathoned through in one weekend.

As to the general idea of not liking a 'recognized masterpiece', I think there was a thread dedicated to just such a topic. Probably every one here can list a couple masterpieces that left them unimpressed. No crime. At most you'll get recomendations to watch it again....which is precisely what I'd suggest with 400 Blows. Pop open a bottle of cab, get some good cheese and make an experience of it.

I really enjoyed the first three movies as everyone else but i'm afraid that watching love on the run and domicile conjugal would would left me with a final bad impression or memory of antoine doinel.
Should I restrain myself?

I think Bed and Board is good myself. It's not as good as Stolen Kisses or The 400 Blows, but I found it enjoyable enough, and it has a Monsieur Hulot cameo. It extends the sort-of vignette approach of Stolen Kisses, depicting Antoine trying out several jobs and conversing with the various characters in his apartment complex. And if you liked Claude Jade in Stolen Kisses she has larger role here, looking just as good. I honestly don't know why this film gets such a bad rap in this thread.

Love on the Run on the other hand is simply awful. Half the film is flashback, which might have been tolerable in the age before home video, but in a boxset you can blow throw in a week it's excruciating. And the other half becomes Collete's film as much as it is Antoine's, breaking away from the largely first-person narrative of the previous films (made worse because I really hate Collete's (Pisier's) voice). It would be fine if something interesting came of it, but neither plot goes much of anywhere and the film is terribly unsatisfying. The only things I liked were the catchy theme song and the end credits.

Not only that but the set up to where Doinel gets has job working those boats is a total homage to that scene in Playtime where Hulot is sitting in that glass-walled waiting room. I thought that I was imagining this at first because no one ever remarks on it but that coupled with the fact that Doinel's boss is played by the loud mouth American from the Royal Garden seemed to confirm that there is more Tati here than just that cameo (which is not actually played by Tati).

Shrew wrote:

I honestly don't know why this film gets such a bad rap in this thread.

I can't figure this out either--if one likes Stolen Kisses, I can't see how one can't like Bed and Board...I can even kind of tolerate Love on the Run but only a little. I mean, it is a fucking clip show for the most part.

Unfortunately, for me, these films did not live up to my expectations. I almost bought the set a year ago as its reputation was so good, but I found the 400 Blows, though well made, to be something I doubt I would ever watch again. I watched the next two over the year and was no more fascinated by them.

I know that I love some films that others just can't relate to, but this series (or at least the first half) was one for me that I know didn't merit a second glance.

You're not alone. I couldn't even finish The 400 Blows. I probably should at least give this single Truffaut another chance, though. At the time I saw it I was going thru major dvd heaven in the early 2000's and the film just couldn't compare with the kind of stuff I was taking in daily.

The problem I have with the last three parts of the cycle is a rare moral one: the films are so strangely stacked against the wife, even though she's the only likable character. In the last film, when everything works out great for everyone but her, that pretty much said it all.

The problem I have with the last three parts of the cycle is a rare moral one: the films are so strangely stacked against the wife, even though she's the only likable character. In the last film, when everything works out great for everyone but her, that pretty much said it all.

I think I agree with Domino in the case of Bed and Board. (I actually really enjoy Stolen Kisses, and Love on the Run has numerous other problems besides this one.) Bed and Board is a well-crafted film and very similar to Stolen Kisses in terms of style, content, and point of view. The problem for me is that the Doinel character is just kind of a jerk by the time we get to Bed and Board -- especially in the terms that Domino lays out. I also think that the overly complicated way that the wife finds out about -- and then reacts to -- Doinel's extramarital affair is entirely miscalculated and clumsy. (It's also not particularly politically correct, but that's another issue altogether.)

I also think that the overly complicated way that the wife finds out about -- and then reacts to -- Doinel's extramarital affair is entirely miscalculated and clumsy.

God, that's an odd scene. I don't know whether it is supposed to be funny or cringe-inducing. And yes, he is a complete spoiled brat which is odd considering that, from what we have already seen, we know that he has no reason to be like this. He is just a total jerk.

I should mention that I find Doinel completely likable in Stolen Kisses though. I even find him likable in Bed and Board as he does all of those awful things.

I saw 400 Blows for the first time last night and wasn't really blown away by it. Sure, the acting was good and the whole film has a nice lyrical feel to it but I was left wondering what raised its reputation from 'very good' to 'masterpiece'.
Also, this probably belongs in the nitpicking thread but did anyone else find that 2 minute scene of the kid repeatedly getting ink on his book and ripping the page out again and again and AGAIN the most grating in the history of cinema..?